http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...05&pfp=compare&
That is the Pavilion zd8230us Notebook that I purchased on Fourth of July and got it with all the sales + a 3 year service plan for about $2,200. Yes it is a major investment but I didn't want to get a desktop for college also and I wanted to be able to beat it like I do with our desktop at home. It is something that i can take home easily and do my school work at home with all the college software that we have to use.
The 1 GIG of ram is very nice. I can play Battlefield 2, MIRC, GAIM, firefox and be burning a dvd and it still has memory to spare. It is a great laptop for its price and it is something that I know will last for at least the 5 years of college.
With the P4 3.4ghz processor yes it doesn't get the best battery value. I get about 1 hour 40 mins out of mine. The media center is also nice because if you are gone for a class or have homework (yes we all have that) you just set it to record the show or series and it does it all automatically and the quality is great.